Embodiments of the present invention relate to page rendering operation in thin client devices.
Thin client devices typically are computing devices that possess less processing resources than a conventional server, desktop computer or even laptop computer. Although the thin client device may possess similar architectures as more robust computing devices in that it may contain a microprocessor, random access memory and non-volatile storage device(s), these components may be less robust than their desktop counterparts. For example, the microprocessors of thin clients may execute at lower speeds than their desktop counterparts and the memories may store less data. Thin client devices often are battery-powered to make them mobile but their batteries may not possess sufficient battery life to permit powerful computing operation to be run constantly for hours as may be done with conventional laptop computers. As a result, applications that execute quickly on a desktop may execute far too slow on the thin clients to be effective.
User interface designs for thin client devices, however, often mimic those of more robust devices. Regular operators of personal digital assistants (PDAs) may have observed that it often can take perhaps ¼ to ½ of a second to erase a first page of data and display a second page of data even when the PDA presents data that is immediately available in local storage. When the thin client device is required to perform numerical computation before presenting a page of information, latencies between the time that page is requested and the time that a page is displayable can vary between 2-15 seconds. Operators of thin client devices often work regularly with their robust computing counterparts and consider these latencies quite irritating. However, because the thin client devices have limited storage and battery life, it often is impractical to pre-compute such data and cache it for later use.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a user interface control technique that provides a low latency display of page-based data even when numeric computation becomes required. Further, there is a need in the art for such a control technique that is compatible with the reduced processing power, storage capabilities and battery life that normally are found in thin client devices.